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Hey guys, I am at the Shore temple in Mahabalipuram and this is the world’s oldest lingam, built more than 1300 years ago. We can see right away that something is very unusual about this lingam. It looks like it has been created with machines. This is because this structure is made of 16 equal sides. Now, on the top, you can see that it has been badly damaged, this is because Kings of other faith have tried to destroy this lingam a few hundred years ago. Today, it stands about 5 feet tall, but the original structure stood nearly 12 feet tall. Is this structure made with ancient machining technology or primitive tools like chisels and hammers?

The baffling feature of this structure is that it is made of 16 equal sides, this type of structure is called a hexadecagon. It is impossible to make a perfect monolithic hexadecagon of this magnitude with primitive tools. How could anyone have made this structure 1300 years ago? Today we can make different polygons using computer controlled machines, but cutting a 12 foot rock with 16 equal sides would be not be easy, even with machines.

The biggest problem with creating a perfect hexadecagon is not the length or width of the facets. These can be measured with simple tools, but the problem lies in creating the perfect angle between the sides. To make a structure with just 8 sides, we would have to calculate the exact angle between each side which would be 135 degrees. Now, this lingam has twice the number of sides which means that the angle between each side should be 157.5 degrees – Now there is a decimal point in degrees!

Is this lingam really perfect or does it merely look perfect? If this entire structure was made with chisels and hammers, there would be some human error. So, I decided to calculate the angle between the facets. If this is a perfect hexadecagon, the angles between all the sides, should be exactly 157.5 degrees. Here you can see my measurement with an angle finder. You can see that there is no error, and it shows the perfect angle of 157.5 degrees. I’ve measured all sides, and it is perfect. This “modern instrument” that I use today, doesn’t show me decimal places, but you can see that this black line is always halfway between these 2 lines. So, you can imagine what kind of advanced instruments were used 1300 years ago, by ancient builders. I have also measured the width of all sides and they are all perfect, down to the millimeter. This means there is absolutely no human error in this structure, which proves that this structure was made with advanced machinery.

But there is another structure which is more baffling than this 16 faceted lingam. There is a 16 faceted structure, called Kalasam sitting on top of the temple tower. Making a regular hexadecagon requires straight machining. But what we see on the very top of this temple tower needs much more complex machining because of the varying shapes and grooves. It looks like a metal structure but it is actually made of stone. This Kalasam looks tiny from here, but is in fact 6 feet tall. It just looks tiny because of the height of the tower which is 60 feet. And if you zoom in, you can see the 16 facets and the varying shapes, created to perfection. Such complex design with 16 facets would be impossible without the help of advanced machines and tools. What kind of technology was used back then and why do we have no mention of this lost technology in history books?

Now, the really fascinating feature is that, while the entire structure is made of granite which is locally available, the lingam and the Kalasam are not made of granite. They are made of a type of rock called black basalt which is not available anywhere within an 800 mile radius. Why did they take such pains to transport black basalt from a far away land and use it on specific structures? If you look carefully, we can see why. You can see that the sculptures made of granite, show lots of corrosion, because of the salty sea breeze. However, there is no sign of corrosion on the Kalasam or the lingam because black basalt does not corrode. This is why, the most critical pieces of the temple were made with black basalt. The ancient builders not only used advanced machines, but also understood the chemical properties of various rocks.

But we are only scratching the surface of this lost technology. Why is the oldest lingam in the world, also the most complex, yet the most perfect lingam? Why is the sanctum facing perfectly to the east, so that the very first sunrays will fall on this lingam? Is it a mere coincidence that the Kalasam was built exactly to 6 feet, lingam to 12 feet and the tower to 60 feet? Why was this kind of accurate measurements necessary? Why did these 2 structures need to have exactly 16 equal sides? What is the importance of creating them?

So, what do you think? Were these structures made with machines? How else could the ancient builders create a 16 faceted structure with no errors in angles, 1300 years ago? What was the purpose of placing these perfect structures in temples? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section

Hey guys, I am at Mahabalipuram in India and here is a large rock that is popularly called “the drinking rock” where locals gather and have some drinks at night. You can see that broken bottles have completely covered the rock. That’s a broken lighter & it looks like somebody threw up last night, must have been a wild party. Now, why would I bitch about people having a good time on an isolated rock? Well, here is the catch: This is the top of a very ancient monument. Underneath the ground, is a large temple with valuable history. Right here, you can see the writings in an ancient language which was last used by Pallava kingdom, which ended around 900 A.D. So obviously the inscription on it is at least 1100 years old, although, I estimate it to be a much older structure and I’ll explain that towards the end of the video.

You can see these writings have already been partially damaged, and I am yet to decode what these words mean, but why would I say there is an ancient temple underneath? Let me turn my camera and show you what’s there a few hundred feet away. You can see a large boulder there. Let’s take a closer look at what that big rock is all about.

In 2004, when Tsunami hit this place, this place was completely submerged under water. But the real surprise came, when the water receded, because it uncovered this temple. Look around, they have found a massive structure with brick work, granite and a lot of other material. Archeologists estimate this temple to be around 2000 years old. You see this line right here, before the Tsunami only what’s above that line was visible and everything below it was buried under ground. People imagined that this was just another rock too. Now, look closely near the top of the boulder. You will see similar writings on top of this rock as well, just like the drinking rock. So before the Tsunami in 2004, this temple would have looked very similar to the drinking rock.

There are other similarities as well. You can see this line here that goes all the way from the top to the sides. Lines like these were cut in ancient times to get the rock marked for carvings. Now, let’s get back to the drinking rock and you’ll see a similar line here as well. It is a mystery, how they cut these fine lines without any wedges or chisel marks. Right next to the drinking rock, you can also see other rocks cut with wedge marks. The same wedge marks and rock cuttings are also found in the temple that was recently uncovered. I’ve shown you how the ancient people used water and wedges to cut rocks in a different video called ancient rock cutting technology.

Now what must have happened 1100 years ago? A massive tsunami would have hit this area and basically buried all these temples. Those who survived must have carved these writings to mark them as temples buried underneath. This theory makes a lot of sense because when the temples were in use, there is no reason to make these carvings on top of the temple. Because at that time, the ground level was there, not up here. And nobody would have been able see those carvings. So, if the writings were done after the temples went underground and if they were written in this ancient language, that pushes the age of the temples much farther than 1100 years. It is very likely that this temple is also 2000 years old, just like the one nearby.

So, it should be obvious that these writings, cuttings and wedge marks are not random coincidences and the drinking rock is an ancient temple, patiently waiting to be uncovered. I hope there is no need for another tsunami and if this video gets shared enough, archeologists might excavate it. At least they can put a fence around it, to prevent future damage.

I hope you enjoyed the secret of the drinking rock. I am Praveen Mohan, Please do share this video, leave your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you for watching and I’ll talk to you soon.

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